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Cocktail Recipes

Thirsty? We have hundreds and hundreds of delicious cocktail recipes from expert bartenders around the world. No matter if you're looking for a classic cocktail, a punch for a party or an original concoction, we have a cocktail recipe for every taste and occasion. What are you waiting for? Start mixing!

After a trip to NYC’s Attaboy, The Eddy head bartender Brian Elder in New York created this pastel-colored drink after looking to add a refreshing easy-sipping cocktail to his list. The drink at Attaboy used muddled strawberries, but to lessen the prep time and reduce spent fruit waste, Elder makes a strawberry cordial, which combines with lemon juice, gentian, gin and pineau. The drink takes a garnish of fresh basil for extra aromatics.

It has been a long time since the first Bamboo cocktail was made in Japan back in the 1890s. The drink was nearly forgotten after Prohibition, but it has recently enjoyed a comeback. At Washington, D.C.’s Mirabelle, lead bartender Zachary Faden's twist substitutes pineau for the original sherry. This simple cocktail has an elegant roundness with hints of caramel and nuts.

Bellecour bar director Robb Jones in Wayzata, Minn., wanted to introduce pineau to the menu of this super hot restaurant 30 minutes outside of Minneapolis. The Sour Grapes is his nod to a Whiskey Sour.

The bar team at Downstairs at The Esquire Tavern in San Antonio has long praised pineau and always has a bottle on the backbar. Recently, a customer asked bar manager Myles Worrell to make a cocktail with it after tasting it on its own. The result was an on-the-fly concoction.

Bartender Patrick Natola of Sable Kitchen & Bar in Chicago wanted to create a great Martini by swapping in tequila for gin but felt that vermouth alone lacked something. He recalled rich vanilla and stone fruit notes in pineau and combined that with tequila, sweet white vermouth and Gran Classico bitter liqueur for a bitter finish. The result is a refreshingly balanced drink with big floral notes rounded out with hints of vanilla and orange.

Schuyler Hunton of Tiger Mama in Boston was tired of watching the compost pile stack up night after night, so she decided to do something about it. This gin-based cocktail is made from lime peels, coconut water (from coconuts the bar typically uses to make Tiki cups) and the oft-discarded syrup from the Luxardo cherry jar, for a tall drink that’s bright, refreshing and easy on your conscience.

This drink by Kim Stodel of Providence in Los Angeles is a hybrid of a Margarita and a Paloma, made with tequila, dry curaçao, guava, lime juice and grapefruit juice. Stodel makes her own house-made guava syrup—a process that results in a lot of guava pulp. Throw it away? Nope. Instead, Stodel repurposes it to make the fruit leather garnish that adds the finishing touch to the cocktail.

Cassia bark and lemon peels are usually discarded. But in this room-temperature gin cocktail by Justin Lavenue at The Roosevelt Room in Austin, the peels and bark are used to make the smoke for the cocktail, as well as the give the drink an added bit of zest at the end.

Instead of stocking bottles of amaretto liqueur, Jeremy Allen of MiniBar in Los Angeles makes his own using discarded the tiny bitter kernels encased in discarded cherry pits. He gets the pits from the cherry juicing process when he makes maraschino cherries for cocktails and when he cures cherries to be used as garnishes. That would be an awful lot of waste. He spends all of cherry season making large batches of amaretto to be used in cocktails like this one, a take on the classic Godfather cocktail.

More of a chef's table Rickey than a backyard Rickey, the Alpine Hippie Juice is “hyperconcentrated, super tart and and dry,” says creator Jeremy Allen, of Los Angeles’ MiniBar. The Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur of the Alps does the work of juniper berries in gin. “It’s a new yet familiar flavor in a clean and simple drink,” says Allen.

This is a good Rickey to imbibe as you head into the fall. Instead of citrus and botanical flavors, this cocktail by Katie Astrauskas at Chicago’s GreenRiver relies on a base of genever, the juniper-based ancestor to gin that’s popular in the Netherlands. “This fall take on the classic Gin Rickey, with a malty genever base, is the perfect tall drink for brisk weather,” says Astrauskas.

This modern take on the Gin Rickey by Nicholas Boden at Tavernonna at Hotel Phillips in Kansas City, Mo., is a fusion of new and old. “It has all the elements of the classic recipe, but the Builders gin used was selected because of its lavender-forward properties, and the use of citric acid instead of lime juice is an updated technique used by many bartenders,” says Boden. “The extremely herbal cocktail is then topped off with lavender-infused soda water. Everything comes together in a symphony of flavors when the drink is served in a rosemary-smoked Martini glass.

This twist on a traditional Rickey by China Morbosa at West Hollywood’s Eveleigh subs mezcal for gin or whiskey, using lemon for citrus, a half ounce of manzanilla sherry for dryness and depth and a house-made mango coconut soda water in place of traditional club soda. Technically, that makes it just a Rickey and not a Gin Rickey, but gin can easily be substituted into this cocktail to keep the original style intact.

Sangria is most often made with wine. But when you swap the grape stuff for tequila and toss in some tropical fruit, a good drink gets a little more interesting.For more great Mexican-inspired drinks—and tacos, too!—head right this way.

This cocktail by Camille Cavan, the bar manager at Portland Ore.’s Quaintrelle, recalls the tart sweetness of a Whiskey Sour with the subtle bitter of a Boulevardier or Old Pal. With a bourbon base, sherry provides structure, and Tempus Fugit Gran Classico bitter brings a bitter touch. In the end, this is a citrus-forward drink, rounded out with drops of lemon oil and silky egg white.

Basically the cocktail version of salsa verde, this Michelada riff by Lucien Conner at Irvine, Calif.’s Puesto gets its tangy, smoky, spicy flavor from blistered jalapeños and tomatillos, while cucumber and lime add brightness and a fresh note.

Sam Treadway, the owner of Somerville, Mass.’s backbar and a pioneering barman in the broader Boston area, plays with Irish whiskey producer Glendalough Distillery’s Wild Botanical gin in this riff on a Singapore Sling. The gin’s citrus-forward but herbaceous spirit shines with fresh pineapple and lime juice, given a vegetal kick from a dash of dandelion and burdock bitters, as well as an aromatic cucumber slice and basil leaf garnish.

The alchemy of the ultimate Daiquiri lies in keeping it simple: two parts rum to lime juice, with just enough sugar to take the edge off. Using a rich simple syrup made of demerara sugar gives the drink necessary sweetness and balance without turning the drink into the sugary mess that many associate with the Daiquiri.The original Daiquiri was invented in the early 1900s but didn’t become popular until the 1940s. World War II rationing made whiskey and vodka hard to come by, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy made relations with Latin America better and thus rum easily accessible. It was one of six classic cocktails that was later featured in David A. Embury’s 1948 seminal book on cocktails, “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.”

Warning: this drink is not the for the faint of heart. Sex on the Beach boasts one of the most provocative names for a cocktail. Fruit-filled and perfect for enjoying a night in the tropics, its no wonder why this cocktail has stayed around for so long.

According to Gary Regan’s research, the original Cosmopolitan was created by a South Beach bartender named Cheryl Cook. Eager to invent a new cocktail for the Martini glass, Cheryl riffed on the classic Kamikaze using a newly introduced citrus-flavored vodka plus a splash of cranberry juice. The rest is rose-hued history.

It's easy to see why the dark rum-based Daiquiri is a classic. The perfectly balanced combination of sweet, sour and spirit is refreshing and tangy, but also quite simple to make at home. Try making the recipe below and add this fool-proof drink to your bartending arsenal.

The coral-hued Aperol Spritz is one of the most popular aperitifs in Italy, and for good reason. Low in alcohol, aromatic with citrus and slightly bitter, Aperol pairs seamlessly with chilled Prosecco to whet the appetite. Meeting friends for an after work Spritz is a long-established Italian tradition—and one that’s easily replicated anywhere.

While the origin of this popular brunch cocktail is debatable, the Bloody Mary's staying power leaves no question. The Bloody Mary is a vodka-soaked nutritional breakfast and hangover cure all in one. What else can you want?

What’s the one downside to enjoying a Spritz? Getting to the end of it, of course. Head bartender Brandon Lockman, the head bartender at Red Star Tavern in Portland, Ore., meets that challenge with this Spritz version filled with fresh, seasonal flavors. He infuses Aperol with strawberries and stirs it with Lillet Blanc apéritif and rhubarb bitters, served in an absinthe-rinsed Nick & Nora glass and topped with sparkling wine. It comes alongside a tiny carafe nestled in ice, to refill your glass as it’s depleted.

The Old Pal Negroni is an authentic and savory spin on the Italian cocktail. Dry gin gets replaced by whiskey while the vermouth is dry rather than sweet. This tinkering with the classic recipe creates a cocktail that feels both familiar and fresh.

This month, as daytime skies grow dark for the first total solar eclipse in 38 years, you’ll want to find yourself a comfy perch, some protective eyewear and a tasty cocktail. We have you covered on the last one with this playful spin on a Rum Sour, made with activated charcoal and seasonal berries.

Why settle for the usual Bloody Mary? Give it a delectable smoky update by adding Ardbeg and all the right garnishes. It will quickly be clear how premium scotch can elevate the classic vodka cocktail.

Jamie Boudreau, the proprietor of Seattle’s Canon, was excited to discover loose-leaf butterfly pea tea from Thailand. Here, it’s infused into gin in this delicate, aromatic sparkling wine cocktail. “People are always amazed that the colors produced are all natural and not some weird chemical that we cooked up in our lab,” he says.

At Cure in New Orleans, co-owner Neal Bodenheimer believes Arctic temperatures aren’t the right way to approach such a nuanced drink. Instead, he thinks the Martini should be served only slightly chilled and—gasp!—closer to room temperature.This recipe originally appeared as part of Are Martinis Better at Room Temperature?

At Cure in New Orleans, co-owner Neal Bodenheimer believes Arctic temperatures aren’t the right way to approach such a nuanced drink. Instead, he thinks the Martini should be served only slightly chilled and—gasp!—closer to room temperature.This recipe originally appeared as part of Are Martinis Better at Room Temperature?